The Flight of Roger Federer

By
at Internationaled.org

Published: February 27, 2010

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A young correspondent, apparently in love with Rafael Nadal, once left me in a philosophical bind about the nature of all crafts, although she was just talking about tennis.

When Nadal was locked in the battle for his life with fellow Spaniard Fernando Verdasco at the semifinal of the Australian Open last year, the girl and her friend were worried about the final. They reckoned and probably rightly, that only Nadal could take out the Swiss. For that moment, it was more to do with Federer losing the next match than Nadal winning the one hanging in balance.

A month or so later, a corridor conversation cleared my doubt and left me speechless. I wondered about the nature of art or more specifically, the understanding of it. I was telling the girl "see how easy Federer makes it look" to which she, thrilled by the observation, replied “that’s the whole point, because it doesn’t even look like he is playing.”

She was young and Rafa, of course, is a wonderful player. So, with that in mind, I did not want to disturb her equilibrium by my oozing admiration of the ease with which Federer operates. I should have told her, "Please don’t mind, Federer does make people mad." How else can you define what Nikolay Davydenko must be felling in the locker room after today’s match?

Davydenko began his flight in earnest and in top gear. You could see the speed of it like one sees the white streak that a supersonic jet leaves as its mark on a cloudless blue sky. Federer lost the first set 6-2 and was trailing a break at 3-1 in the second. And just like that, from that position he won 13 games in a row and Davydenko did not know where to go or what to do.

It was as much tennis as it was torture. The event was made excruciatingly painful by the whiff of the "disdainful and regal" detachment with which Federer conducts himself on court more often than not. And he did it with su...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Tennis

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